Back in the N.O.L.A.

I've returned.

With a cold, thanks the super frosty a/c in the car.
(Why am I always the one who is not hot, and why must I be punished for it?)

No major damage to the home, some new cracks and a the top of my bureau came crashing down...
other than that not much. Lots of tree limbs lining the streets though.


The repair crews are out and about.



With their crews of burly cajun workers.

Hurrication

I'm still a little at odds. Not shaken or shocked. More of kind of detached resignation.



This building is a post office. The sign outside the door alerts patrons to honk their horns in order to notify the clerk that they need assistance. I am so not in NOLA anymore.

Waiting to hear if your city/school/home/belongings are still in full operating order is kind of like being in the ER.
It's all you can do to wait.

The Orange was not too upset at the prospect of the 9 hour drive.

He did spend some time with his head in a cup holder though.



I've holed up at Leah's (fellow classmate & set designer) house in Temple, Texas with several other hurricane flee-ers.
Last night we had a fantastic dinner of Chicken a la Grande and Gumbo. A bit of New Orleans comfort in a spoon.

The four present musicians played some jazz and I pitched a tent in the back yard at 1 am and climbed in.

Persimmon Handicap Syntax

The View from my window at work.


So, here I am weeks later. Sick in bed with the first cold of the semester, which has given me the oppertunity to sleep.
Gradschool has been exhausting. 16 hour days full of classes, design work, practicum work and workshop. I've been a little busy.
Events...
I am still debating the whole drawing/painting MFA versus the Theatre MFA thing. I am applying to both University of california At Berkley and University of Southern California for drawing. And we'll see who offers the biggest package, if any. Else wise I will stay here, I think. I have grown to like this city. Now that the "air" has stopped harassing me and I've mapped out a soild repertoire of bars, restaurants and ....bars.

Life....
At school 16 hours a day. I come home to sleep. I have food in my feezer that I cannot eat because I am unconcious when I am home. I have no life. But I have a few new friendish type people.

The blue linen suit I made nearly entirely by hand. Hot Cooter!!!

School...

Drafting. Pattern-making for the stage. The acctual stage.

Hmmm. Upon starting at Tulane, day one, the organization was horrific. My shop had no pins, clothes hangers and barely functioning machines. That paired with the onslaught of ego and misunderstanding that has unfolded to this point is straining my want to do this work. I love the classes. I have briliant professors and lovely classmates, but the overall environmet is a littoe crappy. Constant complaining and talk of revolution abound, and I am just trying to keep my head down and earn three letters behind my name. God help me.

Art...
I have not drawn one thing worth a sixteenth of a cent while I've been here and I die a little each time I remember this.

My second day in New Orleans is proving to be.....drenched. I have never sweat more in my life. Dear God. The air here is this horrible superconductor of heat. The warmth of the sunlight, yeah there is a difference, is acctually enjoyable compared to the life leeching problem I like to call the "air".

Tulane. Grand, Olde, Aloof. Like me! Met my chair, got my funding ironed out, found the electronically woeful book store that stocks all my favourite magazines. Have not talked to anyone yet, as everyone seems to know everyone else. What can I say, I love my shell. That and no onle likes talking to a sweaty person, which when I step into the "air" I become. Instantly.

My house. The house I live in is Ok, it has a phantom housemate with a stomach virus whom I've only seen once. It's 1 block over from the neigborhoods I should've been living in. (note to all, when renting online, always ask for photos of the neighborhood). Cozily situated between two cemetaries, and having absolutly no furniture.
repeat, NO furniture. I think I may be over minimalsm.